Different Sport, Same Tune: Beware of Boston

Updated April 14, 2009 12:01 am ET

As any NHL fan knows, the goalies -- those brave men who put on gigantic oven mitts and do battle with flying disks of vulcanized rubber -- are the rare athletes in team sports who can almost single-handedly deliver their teams a victory. They're arguably more important than starting pitchers or NFL quarterbacks.

This year, Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins is easily the most dominant goalie in the NHL. This is no big secret: He leads the league with a 2.10 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. But here's something...